Introduction

The Global Monitoring of Environment and Security (GMES) programme is based on a fleet of European Earth observation satellites, built and operated by ESA, member states and commercial entities. GMES will also offer data from non-European satellites.

In order to provide operational and sustainable user services and to avoid unnecessary duplication in technologies, the challenge is to harmonise the various approaches to the ground segments of the different satellites and to involve the users. To begin this harmonization process, a Ground Segment Coordination Body was created to adopt a common, coordinated and cost-effective approach that responds to the needs of Earth observation users.

The demand for Earth Observation (EO) data has evolved dramatically in recent years: the volume of requested data has increased by a factor of 10 over the last 8 years, and more than 80% of the users request data from more than one satellite or satellite operator.

This, in turn, increases the challenge for satellite operators, space agencies and providers of EO data to offer the access to the different data as coherently and easily as possible. It also demands optimisation in allocating the available financial resources to handle an increasing number of different EO missions through closer cooperation in developing the ground segment, the operations and exploiting the data.

A task force set up by ESA’s Earth Observation Programme Board (PB-EO) in 2003–2004 came up with a set of recommendations on how to deal with these challenges. One was the creation of a Ground Segment Coordination Body (GSCB), composed of member-state agencies managing EO data ground segments.

GSCB was established in June 2005 and shares the expertise in the development and operation of payload ground segments of missions such as:

• Meteosat, MSG and MetOp by EUMETSAT;
• TerraSAR-X, Rapid Eye, TanDEM, EnMAP and third-party missions handled by the German Aerospace Center (DLR);
• Radarsat-1 and -2 by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA);
• COSMO-Skymed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI);
• Spot, Topex-Jason and Pleiades by the French Space Agency (CNES);
• ERS-1 and -2, Envisat, Earth Explorer missions and third-party missions by ESA.
  

The group coordinates and shares its findings with other coordination and standardisation entities such as CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites), OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) and CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems), and it plans for regular consultation with industry and commercial missions.